Comcast Cuts Internet Service to Bandwidth Hogs

Shutting Down Big Downloaders - Comcast Cuts Internet Service to Bandwidth Hogs
The Washington Post ^ | September 7, 2007 | Kim Hart

The rapid growth of online videos, music and games has created a new Internet sin: using it too much.

Comcast has punished some transgressors by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company declines to reveal its download limits.

"You have no way of knowing how much is too much," said Sandra Spalletta of Rockville, whose Internet service was suspended in March after Comcast sent her a letter warning that she and her teenage son were using too much bandwidth. They cut back on downloads but were still disconnected. She said the company would not tell her how to monitor their bandwidth use in order to comply with the limits.

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To trigger a disconnection warning, customers would be downloading the equivalent of 1,000 songs or four full-length movies every day. Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas declined to reveal specific bandwidth limits.

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(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...

If they don't declare limits then they're in violation of the commerce laws. They rely on a TOS agreement that states they can dictate any rule at any time without prior notice to the customer. But that won't hold up in court. Unfortunately these companies are too large for the average person to take to court in a fiscal sense. In the end we'll see a class action suit I believe.

This is not the first time Comcast has pulled this stunt either. I used to be one of their customers a few years back while I lived in Utah. They did it then too with several people in Salt Lake City with the excuse that high bandwidth usage was a sign they were also stealing cable signal for their televisions. It didn't work out too well for them as I recall.

>>If they don't declare limits then they're in violation of the commerce laws.<<

While I loathe the behavior, they can do anything they wish inside of their contractual agreement. I suspect they have limits on bandwidth and accessability. All of which some 12YO spank monkey violates as he's downloaded 100 films in the past week.